“Exquisite Folly is
terrific: a marvelous combination of suspensewith a superb portrait of New York society.”

—Thomas Fleming, author of Liberty!
The American Revolution

Passion
or Politics?

In the fall of
1765, New York City is roiling with fury at the impending enforcement of the
Stamp Tax, which portends economic ruin to virtually all classes. There could
not be a worse moment for the young, fetching, none too bright third wife of
a wealthy merchant to be found brutally stabbed to death in her own backyard.
With some factions in the city calling for peaceful protest while others howl
for armed defiance, her foolish jests against the radicals had aroused bitter
indignation, widespread contempt, and the family’s mortification. When the
slogan of the Sons of Liberty is discovered near her corpse, supporters of
the imperial prerogative are quick to assign blame.

Unexpectedly
commissioned to ferret out the truth, aspiring shipper Thomas Dordrecht’s
first duty is to his desperate employers, frantically working to put their
ships to sea before the November first deadline. But as the tax goes into
effect on that date, Dordrecht is hot in pursuit of the culprit …when the
town erupts in a full-scale riot that nearly touched off the American
Revolution ten years early.